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Windows 8 (8.1) is a single experience for all devices. It works for some people, not really for me, I like different experiences in life. Despite my personal taste on OS use, the premise behind Microsoft’s OS campaign is that one single OS can deliver the same experience on a phone, pc or tablet.

Microsoft has done a very good job at owning the OS market for many years on the pc side. Today’s evolution of devices claims a more open market. We have “phablets”, tablets and phones doing more tasks we used to do on a pc than ever before. We chose devices qualifying them for more than we used to… the graphics, size, entertainment purposes beyond work, cameras, level of connectivity etc…

As we evolve on our use of multiple devices I imagine that having a “single experience” across all devices must be a very good premise to capture market as Microsoft marketing strategy, however going back to basics, like many years ago, we should get the device we like because of the functionality we seek.

In some cases Android devices have the perfect attributes for certain jobs, still for work purposes I would prefer to combine a Windows OS on the same device as my Android OS. Taking virtualization to the device even the mobile device and tablet will help us to use them in different scenarios in life.

As the revenue war is driven more towards Office 365 these days. Productivity tools should be available on any OS. And I know that what I am asking here is hard.., but it will be so much interesting, flexible, and user-friendly if we could obtain the OS separate from the device, or add to it a partition.

I heard rumors that this is coming to the mobile world. I wonder how OEM OS licensing rights will change to enable a new reality… Diversity.

In different geographies Microsoft has asked LSP (Licensing Solution Providers) previously known as LAR (Large Account Resellers), to answer RFPs to maintain their status to transact Enterprise Agreements, and other higher licensing agreement transactions.

The idea behind is to recognize those partners that have done investments on Services offerings that can provide value to Microsoft customers beyond the transaction. Passing the test will mean the continuity of operations as LSP, failing means “out”, at least is what I get from my conversations with LSP friends across the globe facing this situation or from the ones that faced it recently.

I wanted to share some of the comments from this Microsoft partners:

Revenue expectations pushed for volumes of sales beyond any services: The targets are aggressive, nothing new, but drive the behaviour of selling and upselling instead of consulting and servicing

Cloud open to other reseller types is very competitive: VARs and others can help clients subscribe and get fees even when there is an LSP transacting an agreement. This also means that VARs better prepare for professional services offerings can be very competitive and if their alliance is with a competitor LSP then the relation with the customer may be at risk

Global LSPs seem to be more attractive to Microsoft than national LSPs: selling agreements across borders is becoming a common practice especially when savings on price lists are so different between countries.

Hardware Surface revenue target attempts are “distracting”: Some folks are wondering what kind of partner Microsoft has truly in mind in the new shift to a Device+SaaS company model.

Fees cuts patterns, cadence and CRM type registration programs: For many years LSPs did not have requests to register deals and obtain fees from entering opportunities and properly track them on Microsoft CRM systems. Also LSPs have experience reduced fees for the same revenue as the partner programs have changed.

The common topic I heard is that the future of LSP as it is today is uncertain, if the new Microsoft RFPs and expectations changes will look for global LSPs then there was not much need for IT services afterall, and the Cloud has broken the boundaries between LSPs and the rest of partners in order to fulfill licensing needs specially in the shift to subscription licenses.

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These days I have to answer often to the question regarding downgrade rights from Office 365. It is different from Volume Licensing. When you subscribe to the E3 or E4 programs for example you are making a decision to upgrade to the latest Office edition of the moment.

There is a small window now to still subscribe to Office 365 and get office 2010 until 8-APR-2014.

After that it will be Office 13 the only available download for Office.

How to be strategic on this?

Time for standardization and upgrade office is a good timing to move to an Office 365 subscription. It is easier to move from one or two editions behind than from a seven or eight year difference. So as dramatic the change can be now, and training is recommended, later upgrades can be done often, at no additional cost and less dramatic.

Once you are using Office from Office 365 you cannot downgrade the edition. Even is you have to change a device and were used to Office 2010 in the moment that Office 13 is the only edition available is the only one you will be able to deploy

It brings some inconvenience and is the way for Microsoft to force latest edition behavior.

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I keep hearing stories from Customers and Prospects where Oracle appears to be trying to deceive them for the purposes of extorting more license money from them than they are legally required to pay. I also keep hearing stories of Oracle telling them they would not be supported if they virtualized their Oracle systems on VMware vSphere. This has gone on now for far too long and it’s time to fight back and stop the FUD!

In my opinion the best way for you to prevent this situation for your company is by knowing the right questions to ask, and by knowing what your obligations are. The aim for this article is to give you the tools to pay only what you legally owe, while making the most efficient and economic use of your licenses, and get the world class support that you are used to, even in a virtualized…

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Does windows 8 have everything needed?
Yes
Why should I use it?
That is the key question, you may think on tablet use, combine with your desktop on windows 7, correct. You may think about touch screens, correct.
Did you know that in Canada 70% of Canadian businesses from the Enterprise to the big small medium business still run XP?
This is what I think, moving out of windows XP is not the question, the question is that the new use of new devices and consumerization of IT will help windows 8 adoption, and is a better story than for Office
I love Office it has been key for me for years I even use OneNote in my iPad, and of course with Citrix or VMware I use full desktop experience on my iPad as well, but why should I go to office 13?… Document compatibility is guaranteed between office 10 and the new Office, this is good for the consumer but may slow adoption for businesses, if the story focuses on the use of the documents online and access them in multiple devices, that is a great value proposition, however it will gain importance not immediately but over the next year as more companies allow a broader device use, get familiar with new model of works for mobile users…
Licensing wise, it is great to see more licensing options through subscription than ever before, and just by the cost of software licensing subscription Microsoft may find another way to convince CIO and CFO to buy and push deployment of windows and office
Still along way to go, but I am optimistic of the future of windows 8 and new office, it may be the start of the “cool factor” for Microsoft. Will it be enough for businesses? Certainly it will start with the consumers

Like this:

Does windows 8 have everything needed?
Yes
Why should I use it?
That is the key question, you may think on tablet use, combine with your desktop on windows 7, correct. You may think about touch screens, correct.
Did you know that in Canada 70% of Canadian businesses from the Enterprise to the big small medium business still run XP?
This is what I think, moving out of windows XP is not the question, the question is that the new use of new devices and consumerization of IT will help windows 8 adoption, and is a better story than for Office
I love Office it has been key for me for years I even use OneNote in my iPad, and of course with Citrix or VMware I use full desktop experience on my iPad as well, but why should I go to office 13?… Document compatibility is guaranteed between office 10 and the new Office, this is good for the consumer but may slow adoption for businesses, if the story focuses on the use of the documents online and access them in multiple devices, that is a great value proposition, however it will gain importance not immediately but over the next year as more companies allow a broader device use, get familiar with new model of works for mobile users…
Licensing wise, it is great to see more licensing options through subscription than ever before, and just by the cost of software licensing subscription Microsoft may find another way to convince CIO and CFO to buy and push deployment of windows and office
Still along way to go, but I am optimistic of the future of windows 8 and new office, it may be the start of the “cool factor” for Microsoft. Will it be enough for businesses? Certainly it will start with the consumers

Like this:

As Microsoft is going to increase User CALs on December 1st 2012 by 15% this adds tremendous complexity for licensing agreements upon the upcoming renewal.

So far the cost for device and user CAL was the same, allowing device CAL to be used on shared device scenario and user CAL in multiple devices per user scenarios.

In order to maximize revenue of BYOD (bring your own device) scenarios and probably to make a push for the Surface tablet necessary CALs negotiated under agreements (we will see), Microsoft increases the price and will keep CIO s busy next year making sure that a good ratio of user versus device CALs are on each agreement to control costs on the renewals.

Again makes me think that Office 365 use will simplify all these complexities, and this price increase adds to my list of the “signs of times” for a full Cloud service deliver that will end old licensing models

I thought that by today Twitter would have redundancy, High Availability, Great Backup, Failover…a world class Cloud Infrastructure. I guess Twitter needs DTM Systems help.
It is not easy, I bet, to have an Infrastructure that serves Twitter large amount of users, it will be great to know the reasons why is down today. It brings the question about their server Infrastructure. How is it architected, what kind of technology solutions are using? Did the problem come from a service provider that did not have Failover ready for twitter, is Twitter own farm not in today’s standards comparable to other competitors like Facebook, Google Plus.
From my point of view a business like tweeter, is so important these days (and becoming number one search engine, and social media tool,) that would have an amazing Infrastructure for its Cloud based web application like no other.
What can we do to help tweeter?, Sometime the advance on the Infrastructure as a Service IaaS is not adopted quickly, multiple reasons for that, however I have learned thanks to my friends and experts at DTM Systems that a scalable infrastructure is ideal for the Cloud, a setup of the servers and virtual machines that will be able to use the latest technologies to guarantee business continuity, scale up and down, control and managed. This is not only available for big companies like Twitter but today standards make it possible for ANY size business. I have seen it in action is amazing what these architects can do
Obviously I cannot speculate what has gone wrong with Tweeter, however if the issue was on how they have set up their Infrastructure I have a very serious message:
Twitter friends; let us have a chat, a serious chat about IaaS